News and Blog

Early into lockdown, French friends I met while researching Welsh-Breton town twinning emailed with the news that they were cancelling their summer exchange to Wales. Members from both towns had been planning the trip for months. The Welsh cakes were already on standby. But now no-one knows when (or if) there might be another town…

In the shadow of the fallout from the qualifications results announced for young people in Scotland earlier this month, and last-minute amendments made by the Welsh and English governments to the awarding of grades, this blog reflects on the steps taken to calculate grades, necessitated by these unprecedented times. Detailed information is now publicly available…

New research by WISERD Co-Director, Professor Paul Chaney, Dr Sarbeswar Sahoo (Indian Institure of Technology, Delhi) and Dr Seuty Sabur (BRAC University, Dhaka) analyses civil society organisations’ perspectives on the contemporary situation facing LGBT+ people in Bangladesh. Until now largely overlooked in academic work, it is an issue needing attention because of the country’s poor…

We have long become accustomed to the concerns expressed in the letter pages of local newspapers or on various online forums from those members of the public forced (if fortunate to have access to a car) to drive greater distances, or to make alternative and more costly arrangements, to access services such as health, educational,…

In late March 2020, we were told – by the Prime Minister no less – to work at home if we could.  How many workers were able to respond to this call and what effect did this have on their mental well-being? Alan Felstead (Cardiff University and PrOPEL) and Darja Reuschke (University of Southampton) present analysis of new data…

Note: This blog has been updated on 28 July to include Student Loan Company data to the end of June 2020. There has been much discussion, forecasting and concern around the impact of COVID-19 on the higher education sector. With many universities beginning to slowly lay out their intended teaching and learning practices for the…

The newly established WISERD Education Data Lab has launched a series of blog posts to share its latest analysis with a wider audience. The lab aims to generate high quality research-based evidence using education administrative data to support the Wales education sector. In order to undertake this work, the WISERD Education Data Lab is using administrative data…

This blog outlines preliminary findings from a larger WISERD Education Data Lab project exploring non-attendance and school exclusions. Here we draw on annual attendance data and pupil level data. We explore the total number of school sessions missed by a cohort of young people over an 11-year period, from age 5 years old (Year 1)…

A previous blog introduced the context and patterns of early entries to GCSEs in Wales. This blog builds on this to examine the practice of multiple entry and the effect that this has on grades. Using national data of all pupils in Wales who completed Year 11 between 2006 and 2018, we distinguished between pupils…

GCSE entry practices in Wales have meant that many pupils may have sat their GCSE examinations, and thereby certified, before the traditional end-of-Year-11 point of their academic career. Not only have some pupils experienced early entry, some have been entered multiple times in order to maximise the final grade achieved. Influences on the practice of…